She came across the ocean wearing loneliness (wore it on her sweater) Just like you wore it out on me
And she only thinks of simple things, diamond rings and paper kings, she only thinks of all the things that might not be
- Virginia Coalition, A Song

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Open up your eyes and see the wonder that is me

I always thought ebola was cool. For a while I wanted to be a field epidemiologist (hence my minor in anthropology). So I enjoyed reading that, after almost 30 years, researchers finally found the animal reservoir of the virus (that means the animal that carries the virus in nature but doesn't display symptoms) - it's three species of fruit bats. Lesson here: don't eat fruit bats.

ps - read The Hot Zone, if you haven't already. And then read The Cobra Effect - fiction, but scarier.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple in terms of a vaccine. The information will be more useful for public health campaigns (I was serious when I said that the lesson was "don't eat fruit bats" because that's what they're telling African people in high-risk areas). "Immune" means you don't contract something, which is very different from being a "carrier" of something (meaning you are infected but present no symptoms).

It's possible. It depends on the reason why the bats don't get sick. If it's because they have some kind of antibody to the virus, then it's possible that it could be duplicated in the lab. If it's something about their cells that's different from ours, that's not going to help us much.

About Me

Former lacrosse player, RYT-200, successful half-marathoner x3 (current PR 2:08:54 on 10/31/15). Science nerd, chocolate lover, furry animal softie, ungifted appreciator of music and art. Wife, sister, daughter, friend, government cog. Football fan and speed reader. Product of a mediocre high school, an awesome private womens college, and a world-renowned graduate school. I scored a 41 on the Wonderlic Test. Currently an ESTJ.

I talk to myself all the time. I like the color pink, and singing (badly) in the car at the top of my lungs. Occasionally while dancing a little. People call me "cute" and "bubbly." I try to be funny sometimes.